PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Middle East: Armed Conflict (4 September 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the missions flown by the RAF in Iraq and Syria to date have been (a) combat missions where weapons have not been fired, (b) combat missions where weapons have been fired, (c) for reconnaissance, (d) for aid on supply drops and (e) for other reasons.

Asked by:
Imran Hussain (Labour)

RAF Aircraft have been operating in support of coalition operations to degrade and defeat ISIL since August 2014. In that time 1,315 Tornado GR4 and Reaper Remotely Pilot Air System (RPAS) missions have been flown. Of these, 247 involved weapons releases. All of the Reaper RPAS missions will have included some element of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). On all missions Tornado GR4s are flown fitted for a dual strike and ISR role, however, a specialist ISR pod was fitted on 124 missions. As of the 6 September 2015, other UK air assets have conducted 485 dedicated ISR missions.

From the outset, the UK has also committed various RAF aircraft to Coalition operations in an enabling role, including air-to-air refuelling, command and control and logistic transport. The number of such aircraft has fluctuated considerably throughout the operation and they conduct missions on an almost daily basis.

The Department of International Development is responsible for the provision of humanitarian aid to Iraq and has so far delivered £39.5 million of aid since the start of the conflict. The RAF has not participated in humanitarian aid drops since the summer of 2014 when they conducted seven air drops to the besieged Yazidi community on Mount Sinjar and a further two air drops to trapped groups in Amerli, delivering nearly 100 tonnes of life-saving humanitarian supplies.

Answered by:
Penny Mordaunt (Conservative)
14 September 2015